Nehemiah Griego

Name and identity

Nehemiah Griego was a 15-year-old male.

Timeline

• January 19, 2013 — Police found five people dead inside a house in South Valley, New Mexico.
• Around midnight (January 19, 2013) — Nehemiah Griego killed his mother with a .22 rifle.
• Around 5:00 am (January 19, 2013) — Nehemiah Griego waited for his father to return home; his father was later shot multiple times with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle with a scope.
• January 20, 2013 — Nehemiah Griego sat in an interrogation room at Bernalillo County Sheriff’s headquarters in Downtown Albuquerque and gave a detailed confession; his sister Vanessa Lightbourne, aged 21, was asking to be allowed access.
• Early Sunday (January 2013) — Nehemiah Griego was in custody at the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center.
• Tuesday (January 2013) — Nehemiah Griego waived the court appearance in Metropolitan Court and was held without bond; District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said the case should be presented to a grand jury within 10 days.
• Wednesday, July 24, 2013 — Six months after New Mexicans first heard the news, Nehemiah Griego was still held at the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center and was being visited weekly by his aunt/guardian Regina Griego.

Background

Nehemiah Griego was the son of Greg Griego and Sarah Griego and was the brother of Zephania Griego, Jael Griego, and Angelina Griego.

Nehemiah Griego was homeschooled and was affiliated with Calvary of Albuquerque through the family’s church community.

Nehemiah Griego had a girlfriend who was 12 years old, and he exchanged text messages and a photograph of his dead mother with her on the night of the killings. The girlfriend was not facing any charges at that point.

Nehemiah Griego told church officials and his girlfriend that his parents were killed in a car accident, and later said that he discovered their bodies and drove off. A church security guard called 911 after Nehemiah told him his family was dead.

Nehemiah Griego contemplated further violence, including going to a Wal-Mart with mass destruction and possibly attacking Calvary of Albuquerque, but those plans did not occur.

The offence

Weapons and victims

Police said a .22 caliber rifle was used to shoot a woman and three children. An AR-15-style rifle was believed to be the weapon used to shoot an adult male when he came home later.

The five victims were a man, his wife, and three of their children: Greg Griego (51), Sarah Griego (40), Zephania Griego (9), Jael Griego (5), and Angelina Griego (2).

Killing of his mother and brother

According to police, Nehemiah Griego killed his mother with a .22 rifle at around midnight. His brother Zephania woke up and Nehemiah told him he had shot their mother. Zephania initially did not believe him until Nehemiah showed him her bloodstained face.

Nehemiah told police that his brother became upset, and then Nehemiah proceeded to shoot him with the same rifle.

Killing of his younger sisters

Nehemiah went into the bedroom his two younger sisters shared, found them crying, and shot them both in the head.

Killing of his father

Nehemiah proceeded downstairs and waited for his father to return home. His father came home at around 5:00 am, and Nehemiah shot him multiple times with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle with a scope.

In later statements to police, Nehemiah also described taking a rifle from his parents’ closet, shooting his mother as she slept, shooting his 9-year-old brother in bed next to her, then shooting his two younger sisters in a nearby bedroom after they started crying.

Nehemiah also said he loaded weapons into the family van and hoped to carry out an assault on a Wal-Mart and die in a shootout with police, but he went to church instead.

Plans and attempted expansion of the killings

Nehemiah told police that he had intended to drive off and use the guns to kill more individuals and ideally die in a gun battle with police.

Investigators said he reloaded the .22 caliber rifle and the AR-15, put them in the family’s van along with several rounds of ammunition, and drove away. Investigators said he had contemplated killing his girlfriend’s family and then “going and ending this at a Walmart with mass destruction.”

A sheriff’s quote attributed to the news conference described the scope of what authorities believed: “This is beyond any human reasoning or understanding at this time,” and “It’s horrific. What other word do you use? It’s the first time I’ve been to a crime scene with this much destruction.”

Investigation

Police described that after the killings Nehemiah texted a picture of his mother’s body to his 12-year-old girlfriend.

BCSO Lt. Sid Covington said it appeared that Nehemiah had made comments consistent with his plan for at least a week prior to the shootings, and said, “That’s part of the investigation that’s still active,” and “… We’re still investigating who he might have told and what exactly he told them.”

When asked whether he told the girlfriend his plans prior to the killings, Covington said that’s one possibility investigators were looking into.

Investigators searched through the girlfriend’s cellphone and through Nehemiah’s cellphone.

At a news conference, authorities said they had “no best judgment on a motive” other than he was “frustrated” with his mother. A sheriff’s quote was given: “This is beyond any human reasoning or understanding at this time,” and “It’s horrific. What other word do you use?

The investigation included tracing the history of firearms and two shotguns found in the Griegos’ home with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Arrest and custody

Nehemiah Griego was arrested in connection with the shootings.

He was booked into the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center.

He waived his right to an arraignment in adult court and was being held without bond.

He was held without bond after District Judge Yvette Gonzales signed a stipulated order between prosecutors and the Public Defender’s Office.

He remained in custody at the Juvenile Detention Center and remained held without bond.

Trial

Nehemiah Griego was to be tried as an adult under New Mexico’s Serious Youthful Offender Act for any teen aged 15, 16 or 17 charged with first-degree murder.

A spokesperson for the state Public Defender’s Office, Jeff Buckels, was identified as the representative.

A trial date had not been scheduled.

Sentencing

If convicted, Nehemiah Griego faced more than 200 years in prison—30 years for each murder charge plus 30 years for each child abuse charge—while a judge would have discretion due to him being a juvenile.

A District Attorney statement indicated that the gravity of the charges would give any judge pause before going easy on the teen. District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said: “The fact that five people lost their lives – some very young children – that certainly wouldn’t result in a light or minor sentence.”

Appeals

No appeal information was provided.

Outcome

Nehemiah Griego remained in custody at the Juvenile Detention Center and remained held without bond.

Other details

Confession and statement to police

Nehemiah Griego gave a detailed confession of how he had killed his parents and three younger siblings.

In his statement of facts to police, Nehemiah said:

• He had been having suicidal and homicidal thoughts.
• He had obtained the guns from his parents' closet.
• He had mailed a photo of his dead mother to his girlfriend.
• He had intended to drive off and use the guns to kill more individuals and ideally die in a gun battle with police.

The statement was described as being admissible in court only if he made it freely and voluntarily without coercion, and that he knew his attorney was not present and waived that right.

Nehemiah agreed to speak with investigators without an attorney or an adult present, and the interview lasted about 90 minutes.

Conflicting stories and waiver of formal court appearance

Nehemiah initially made claims that he had come home after being at a friend's house and found his family dead. He also said he had panicked and did not call 911.

He changed his story multiple times regarding why he had rifles in the cargo area of the van.

He was scheduled for an initial appearance in Metropolitan Court on five counts of murder and three counts of child abuse resulting in death. He waived the court appearance.

Charges

Nehemiah Griego was charged with two counts of murder and three counts of child abuse resulting in death.

Mental health and diagnosis

Aunt and guardian Regina Griego visited Nehemiah weekly at the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center and described efforts to obtain mental health care.

Regina Griego said: “Clearly, there was some sort of break or psychotic break that happened that night,” and described her weekly routine: “It’s a cycle every week for me, to be reminded of the tragedy and the sadness of everything because I miss my brother a lot but I have such compassion for Nehemiah ,”

Regina Griego said about counseling at the juvenile detention center: “First of all, he's young, cognitively - to me, he's a child. And secondly, he's got some mental impairment,” and added: “So it has not made sense to me in any shape or form.”

Regina Griego said he had started medication and described: “Now he has a full range of emotion,” and “He's missing his family. He obviously cries a lot about what happened.”

Regina Griego criticized the facility as a place for healing, saying: “It's a holding point. It's not really a healing point,” and “He's got to get to some mental health care facility to heal.”

In contrast, officials said early on that it didn't appear Nehemiah had any history of mental illness or that he had been taking any kind of medication.

Family members disputed the framing of the event, stating they believed his confession circumstances should not lead to a narrative of planning to go on a killing spree. Eric Griego said:

“No lawyer, no adult, no access to any family members, (he) makes a statement, if that’s not damaging enough … for us the hardest thing is that became fact,”

Eric Griego also said:

“As far as we know, that whole narrative that he was going on this grandiose shootout was based on a scared 15-year-old in the middle of the night, in the sheriff’s department, no parent, no adult, no lawyer, saying ‘I’m going to do this,’ ”

And:

“Should he have said it? Of course not. If any of us would have been there, we would have just told him to shut up.”

Eric Griego also said:

“With what we’ve all learned about brain development, something must have gone wrong with his brain.”

Family and prior accounts

Greg Griego had been described as a pastor at Calvary Church and as a chaplain to the Albuquerque Fire Department. Greg Griego had responsibilities at the Albuquerque Rescue Mission before returning home and was killed early Saturday morning.

The killings were described as leaving Greg Griego’s wife, a son, and two daughters dead before the arrest.

Annette Griego described beliefs about redemption and said:

“We all know what my dad and Sarah (Griego, his wife) would’ve wanted,” and: “We have spent our lives watching them live their lives for others. And we know that, more than anything else, they would’ve wanted Nehemiah to be given a second chance, and that’s what we want as well … If my dad were here, my dad would stand by Nehemiah.”

A statement attributed to the family asked the public and media “to not use Nehemiah as a pawn for ratings or to score political points.” The statement also said:

“It is clear to those of us who know and love him that something went terribly wrong,” and: “Whether it was a mental breakdown or some